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Psalms

Psalm 7

Psalm 7:4 uses “shalom” in an intriguing way.  This psalm is a prayer for help against persecutors.  The psalmist asks God for protection against those who persecute him unjustly.  But he further states that if he has done something that deserves a persecuting response, then let the psalmist reap the consequences.  It is within this context that he uses the word “shalom”. 

O Lord my God, if I have done this,

            If there is wrong in my hands,

If I have repaid my ally with harm

            Or plundered my foe without cause,

Then let the enemy pursue and overtake me.  (7:3-5a) 

The word “shalom” is used in the line, “if I have repaid my ally with harm.”  The Hebrew literally says, “if I have repaid the one at peace with me with harm”.  It captures the idea of one being completely at shalom with another, secure and confident in that peace.  And then, the writer acts totally unpredictably to harm that person.  It is an intriguing usage, and demonstrates how the Hebrew word “shalom” can be nuanced.

But more than that, it is saying something significant about human relationships.  When we deal with a person with “shalom” and treat them in a loving and caring way, that treatment has the capacity to build deep levels of trust.  If we then betray that trust by acting in a way that either brings harm to another person or in a way that that person can interpret as harm, we have broken relationship with him or her.  The Psalmist suspects that is what he has done.  Therefore, his judgment upon himself is significant.  Rather than trying to justify himself (“well, I only meant to do such-and-so”), the Psalmist says “Let me get the full treatment of his wrath.  Let me get what’s coming to me.”  He is every bit as demanding on the way he is to hold himself accountable as he is in holding others accountable.  And that takes guts!

Psalm 22:6-11:

The scripture for today is Psalm 22:6-11 – the heart of this dirge of despair and hymn of praise.  Its opening line, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (22:1a) was a cry that Jesus made upon the cross as he neared his death (Mt. 27:46; Mk. 15:34).  Some have suggested that Jesus not only cried that desperate first line, but quoted the entire psalm.

Psalm 22 divides into two parts.  Verses 1-21a is the lament, while verses 21b-31 is thanksgiving and praise.  The lament is the more powerful part, expressing the psalmist’s sense of total abandonment (but the second part proclaims God’s restoration of the complainant).  In the light of God’s apparent abandonment of this suffering one, the person’s prayer is quite simple:  God, answer me (verse 2), stay close to me in this hour of my torment (vss. 11, 19), and ultimately deliver me (v. 20). 

This psalm is quite vivid, remarkably accurate to Christ’s passion, and it is understandable why he quoted it:

                                    All who see me mock at me;

                                                They make mouths at me, they shake their heads;

                                    “Commit your cause to the Lord, let him deliver –

                                                let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”   (22:7-8)

As we observe both the crucifixion of our Lord and his atoning work on that cross, this psalm should help us to identify with his personal distress and remind us of the interior emotional and physical struggle he went through in accomplishing the great work he has done for us!

Psalm 34

Psalm 34 is a praise hymn, thanking God for delivering the author from trouble.  It contains many well-known and precious lines, including the one that uses the word “shalom”.

·        “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.”  (vs. 3)

·        “I sought the lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (4)

·        “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.”  (8)

·        “The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”  (10)

·        “Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace (shalom), and pursue it.”  (14)

·        “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed spirit.”  (18)

·        “He keeps all his bones; not one of them will be broken.”  (18)

·        “The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.”  (22)

What strikes me in a psalm that is otherwise concentrated on God’s action upon us, is the proactive nature of 34:14.  It states that we have to “seek” shalom – in fact, we have to “pursue” it.  To truly experience the shalom of God, we must “depart from evil, and do good.”  The psalmist is suggesting that “shalom” does not so much happen to us as it is that we make it happen!  We have to be both intentional and proactive in working for shalom – not just for peace, but for security, wholeness and abundance.  The world will not naturally become the world as God intends it to be – a society of justice and equitable distribution of wealth, of the elimination of poverty, powerlessness and marginalization, a people in relationship with God and each other.  Rather, the natural inclination is for the world to become increasingly full of greed and a lust for power, increasingly unilateral and dictatorial, increasingly oppressive and exploitive.  That is what “original sin” is all about. 

What the Psalmist is therefore saying is that we have to be actively about working for the shalom of our society – that we must “pursue” that vision by continuously turning our backs on the natural human tendency to lust after power, prestige and possessions while embracing and working for the vision of the world as God intended it to be! 

Psalm 69

Psalm 69 is our psalm for today, with “shalom” used in verse 22.           

This psalm stands with Isa. 53 and Psalms 22 and 118 as being specifically and extensively applied to Jesus by the authors of the New Testament.  Thus, verses from it are either quoted or referenced in the NT as follows: vs. 4 is in John 15:25, 9 in John 2:17 and Rom. 15:3, and 21 in Matt. 27:34, 48; Mark 15:36; Luke 23:36 and John 19:29.  As well, verses 22 and 23 are referenced in Rom. 11:9-10, and vs. 25 in Acts 1:20.

The psalm is about the innocent suffering of the servant of the Lord (vs. 17), whose enemies are successfully destroying him (vss. 1-2, 14-15).  The suffering of the servant includes reproach, shame and estrangement from kindred and is on their behalf (69:9-13).  Most importantly, the psalm introduces the idea of the servant’s suffering as being the means for asking for God’s redemptive action (vs. 18).  This is the first time in Hebrew literature that the Hebrew word, g’el is used theologically rather than economically, thus describing redemption as the forgiving of sins rather than the buying back of a person from slavery or a person’s property for them (cf. Lev. 25:25; Deut. 25:5), which is an economic usage.

The use of the word :shalom” occurs in vs. 22 and in a phrase extremely difficult to translate into English.  This difficulty is manifested in the NRSV translation of the passage as follows: “Let their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies.”  This is actually an imprecatory portion of Psalm 69.  The people who are being referred to as “their” are those enemies of the suffering servant who have brought agony and death upon him

But the NRSV translation is an extremely awkward translation.  The Hebrew word here translated “allies” is “shalom”.  The NRSV translation is designed to reflect what the translators believe was the intent of the writer rather than the words of the writer.  Other translations approach the verse entirely differently.  The Jerusalem Bible, for example, translates it, “May their own table prove a trap for them, and their plentiful supplies, a snare!”  “Shalom” is here translated “plentiful supplies”.  The NIV provides two alternate readings for the second half of the verse, one being “may it become retribution and a trap”, the other “and their fellowship become a trap” (“retribution” and “fellowship” both being the word “shalom”).  Finally, the New Living Translation (which tends to be much more literal) translates it “Let the bountiful table set before them become a snare, and let their security become a trap”, the word “security” being used to translate “shalom”.

What the psalmist is wishing in this confusing and ambiguous passage is that those who have caused the servant such suffering should themselves experience comparable suffering.  “What goes around comes around”.  These evil men should experience the consequences of their own action, the psalmist is saying, receiving as much pain as they have meted out.  It is not a very pretty thought.  But it is an understandable thought, seeing the suffering that the innocent servant of God had to go through at the hands of such evil people.  It is a rather harsh ending to a powerful psalm.  But what makes this psalm so important is that it is one of the first introductions of the concept of redemption as dealing with atonement from sin rather than simply economic restitution.

Psalm 85

The next two uses of the word “shalom” are in Psalm 85 – verses 8 and 10.  This psalm is a prayer for the restoration of God’s favor upon a beaten-down people.  It deals with God’s divine blessing and pardon coming upon Israel and was likely composed to celebrate the return of the first exiles from Babylonia in 538 BCE.  The two verses on peace are well-known.

                         Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

                                    For he will speak peace to his people,

                                    To his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts.  (85:8)

                        Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;

                                    Righteousness and peace will kiss each other.  (85:10)

I particularly like the final line:  “righteousness and peace will kiss each other.”  The Hebrew word “righteousness” doesn’t mean what the English word “righteousness” means, for the English has the sense of acting morally right or being free from guilt or sin.  It therefore means in English private or moral behavior.

The Hebrew word for “righteousness”, however, is also the Hebrew word for “justice” (tsedeq).  It is the arbitrary decision of the translator that determines whether tsedeq should be translated “justice” or “righteousness” in any given passage.  The word, therefore, has much more of a meaning of compensatory equality, public justice, clemency and compassion about it than does our English equivalent.

Therefore, when the Psalmist suggests that “righteousness and peace will kiss each other”, he is saying that true “shalom” occurs only when it is enthused with justice.  To the psalmist, “shalom” and “tsedeq” are intertwined – for true peace cannot occur except within the context of justice, and true justice cannot occur except within the context of people being at one (at peace) with each other.

Psalm 118:19-29: 

                                    O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

                                                His steadfast love endures forever!     (Psalm 118:1 and 29)

This Psalm opens and ends with this shout of Thanksgiving.

Psalm 118 is a processional hymn built around an annual celebration of the enthronement of the king, but here perceiving that enthronement being not simply of a human monarch but the enthronement of the emperor of heaven and of earth – Yahweh!  Thus, it’s use throughout the Triumphal Entry story about Jesus is very pointed – for by its very use, the author of Luke is declaring that this is not simply a Jewish monarch who is being enthroned, but Yahweh himself!

The passage of our study (Ps. 118:19-29) is a description of a liturgical procession of king and people, likely led by the Ark of the Covenant.  It is held at the opening of the annual Festival of Tabernacles (cf. Pss. 15, 24).  The stone rejected by the builders that has become the keystone of the Temple (vs. 22) reminds one of King David, who was the smallest of Jesse’s sons yet became the greatest king in Israel’s history, chosen by God (I Sam. 16:1-13).  Thus, the NT writers would declare, God is doing it all over again – choosing the child of a peasant woman who was born in a stable and is now to be God’s chosen to bring “shalom” upon the entire world.  One cannot help but declare,

                                     This is the Lord’s doing;

                                                It is marvelous in our eyes.

                                    This is the day that the Lord has made;

                                                Let us rejoice and be glad in it.  (118:23-24) 

Thus, the people declare, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”  (Ps. 118:26; Luke 19:38), as God’s chosen king (David, Jesus) comes into the Temple (Ps. 118:26b-27; Lk. 19:45-47). 

According to this Psalm, the king is to place a garland or branches (Lev. 23:40) on the “horns of the altar” (Ps. 118:27).  But here Jesus departs from the formula of Psalm 118.  He overturns the tables of the Temple’s moneychangers instead, declaring

                        My house shall be a house of prayer,

                                    But you have made it a den of robbers.  (Lk. 19:46; cf. Isa. 56:7; Jer. 7:23-30)

Thus, Jesus demonstrates how far from God’s intentions for Israel the present Jewish political, economic and religious leaders have intentionally moved and how much that repentance and return must occur for God’s shalom community to be realized!  Thus, Jesus’ enactment of Psalm 118 ends profoundly differently than how it was intended to end.  For rather than ending with the cry, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,”  it sadly ends with the tragic words, “and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill Jesus” (Lk. 19:47).          

Psalm 122

Psalm 120 is a song of ascent.  It laments a Jew having to live in a Gentile environment where there is no appreciation of God or of His shalom community.

                        Woe is me, that I am an alien in Meshach,

                                    That I must live among the tents of Kedar.

                        Too long have I had my dwelling

                                    Among those who hate peace.

                        I am for peace;

                                    But when I speak, they are for war. (120:5-7)                                                                    

Here is described the difficulty of living in a society with differing values.  The Psalmist is for shalom; the natives are for war.  The values are diametrically opposed.  Yet one must live there.  The Psalmist, living in Babylonian exile, in essence asks, “How can one live in a foreign land, in a society whose values are so opposite of yours?”

This is the dilemma of the Jew and of the Christian.  How do we sing the songs of Zion in a strange land, among a people whose values are so opposite of ours (“I am for peace, but they are for war”)?  One alternative is to succumb to those values, and simply fit in to our society.  Another is to adopt a low profile, and appear to be similar.  The third is to withdraw from that society as do orthodox Jews or Muslims in either Christian or secular societies, only interacting with that culture the absolute minimum required to survive there.  But how do we “live and move and have our being” in a society with values different than our faith values?

The implied conclusion of the Psalmist is that one can successfully survive in a “strange land” when one is in community.  You cannot long survive by yourself or simply with your family, for you will be excluded or rejected by that society, or ultimately seduced by it.  The only way you can survive and, in fact, make an alternate way of life for yourself, is to be a part of a community of believers holding to the same values, so that you can be of mutual support and encouragement to each other, can begin developing an alternate society, and can together begin to seek the transformation of the larger society into the kind of society, politically, economically, socially and spiritually that God intended.